When Kristina Johnson and David Franke remodeled their California kitchen and laundry room, they did a surprising thing: left the door off the laundry room.

Of course, I had a question about that missing door: “Why?”

You might have to love appliances as much as Kristina and Dave do to understand the reasoning: The high-end, stackable washer and dryer are, in their eyes, just too beautiful to hide behind a door.

Of course, there are also practical reasons for their action. A full-size door on hinges would get in the way. Even smaller swinging saloon doors would be awkward. And most of all, the open laundry room adds a sense of spaciousness to the kitchen, making it seem larger.

To pull this off, here’s what was needed:

• Handsome appliances (check)
• Super cute tile floor in a checkerboard pattern (check)
• A shelf for folding clothes made from granite leftover from the kitchen (check)

That piece of granite for the laundry room table, by the way, cost $300 to get fabricated (cut and polished), so it wasn’t a cheap deal.

But for the ease of use and overall attractiveness, I’d say the open laundry room is a winner.

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